What Will Be the Next Big Thing in Equipment?

[Bonvivant]

Just now, leftybutnotPM said:

You said you wanted to see something and inferred that it doesn't happen. It did. He was OB. and had to do the ride of shame in a cart.

You are the one who wrote a post saying what you'd like to see. You can't then act all blase and say you're too busy to watch golf when someone points out that something approximating what you'd like to happen actually does happen.

This has nothing to do with what I was talking about. Pretty extreme circumstance compared to hitting the ball into deep rough. He deserved the cart of shame, but it has nothing to do with chipped balls or pros getting to always find their ball. He was just acting silly. Sorry that I didn't look it up until after the initial comment.

[leftybutnotPM]

15 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

This has nothing to do with what I was talking about. Pretty extreme circumstance compared to hitting the ball into deep rough. He deserved the cart of shame, but it has nothing to do with chipped balls or pros getting to always find their ball. He was just acting silly. Sorry that I didn't look it up until after the initial comment.

Yeah but the thing is that most events are played on boring courses with no deep rough.

I would love to see the possibility of them losing a ball (like us) a reality. Agreed.

 

[boogielicious]

Next big thing?

Anti-viral coatings on golf grips, ball covers, tees.....😜

[ChetlovesMer]

20 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

Next big thing?

Anti-viral coatings on golf grips, ball covers, tees.....😜

I love it. While were at it:

Put a Clorox solution in the ball washers.

Add a hand sanitizer dispenser station to be accessed as you walk off the green.

Golf bags equipped with a Clorox wipe pocket in addition to the current bevy of pockets. 

New golf carts built to maintain 6 feet of distance between players.

The cup is no longer just an empty cup, but instead is filled with Lysol. The Lysol is replenished or replaced every dozen golfers or so. 

Golf hats not only come in the traditional ballcap, wide brim, bucket, paperboy, and visor varieties. New varieties hit the market with optional face masks and/or respirators. 

 

8 hours ago, Vinsk said:

2. Just seems it would affect the ball too much?

As you know, TopGolf, amongst others, is already putting chips inside their golf balls.

Granted those are passive chips, not active chips, I think figuring out the power source for an active chip inside ball would be the challenge. It would have to be tiny, last a long time, and most importantly cheap. 

Feels like it won't be long before somebody gives it a shot. I would be shocked if somebody isn't already tinkering with it.

[snapfade]

23 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I love it. While were at it:

Put a Clorox solution in the ball washers.

Add a hand sanitizer dispenser station to be accessed as you walk off the green.

Golf bags equipped with a Clorox wipe pocket in addition to the current bevy of pockets. 

New golf carts built to maintain 6 feet of distance between players.

The cup is no longer just an empty cup, but instead is filled with Lysol. The Lysol is replenished or replaced every dozen golfers or so. 

Golf hats not only come in the traditional ballcap, wide brim, bucket, paperboy, and visor varieties. New varieties hit the market with optional face masks and/or respirators. 

 

As you know, TopGolf, amongst others, is already putting chips inside their golf balls.

Granted those are passive chips, not active chips, I think figuring out the power source for an active chip inside ball would be the challenge. It would have to be tiny, last a long time, and most importantly cheap. 

Feels like it won't be long before somebody gives it a shot. I would be shocked if somebody isn't already tinkering with it.

It would have a real time GPS feature that your group could monitor so it will show if you took a free drop when they were not looking. It would prevent people from using an eraser. Every hit would be recorded in real time. So that 5 you wrote down that was actually an 8 would register as an 8. A few tweaks and some brainstorming it could be a thing. We did put men on the moon, or so they say, when it seemed impossible.

[Vinsk]

37 minutes ago, snapfade said:

It would have a real time GPS feature that your group could monitor so it will show if you took a free drop when they were not looking. It would prevent people from using an eraser. Every hit would be recorded in real time. So that 5 you wrote down that was actually an 8 would register as an 8. A few tweaks and some brainstorming it could be a thing. We did put men on the moon, or so they say, when it seemed impossible.

Or if you bounce your ball on your sand wedge, tale a practice stroke between holes, 🙂

[snapfade]

1 minute ago, Vinsk said:

Or if you bounce your ball on your sand wedge, tale a practice stroke between holes, 🙂

Hmmm, the boys down in R and D have some work to do. If you go to the topic " The Perfect Golf Course", that is something that will not be allowed, I will update it to reflect that, no practice shots between holes. Thank you for mentioning that. I will offer you a complimentary one year membership when the club opens. 

[CarlSpackler]

Once upon a time, I worked for an electric motor company. We pitched the idea to Toro and others to replace hydraulics with electric motors to prevent damage to courses from leaks. Maybe they implemented this and went with a cheaper (Chinese) source that stole all of our motor designs, but that would be a good thing. Personally I would like to see more cost effective course maintenance equipment. I am seeing automatic mowers and pooper scoopers coming on the market that are similar to Roomba's. What about an unmanned mower for greens?

[David in FL]

Who woulda guessed that it would be a pool noodle?!  

[Vinsk]

22 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Who woulda guessed that it would be a pool noodle?!  

One lesson from Michael Breed and you’ll never want to see another pool noodle again.

[Double Mocha Man]

48 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

Once upon a time, I worked for an electric motor company. We pitched the idea to Toro and others to replace hydraulics with electric motors to prevent damage to courses from leaks. Maybe they implemented this and went with a cheaper (Chinese) source that stole all of our motor designs, but that would be a good thing. Personally I would like to see more cost effective course maintenance equipment. I am seeing automatic mowers and pooper scoopers coming on the market that are similar to Roomba's. What about an unmanned mower for greens?

Is that unmanned mower going to pull the pin on the Green? Oh, that's right, it can't touch the flagstick.

[iacas]

10 hours ago, Bonvivant said:

I don't think that it would press on many rules either

Balls with a GPS chip (or whatever) aren't legal/conforming.

10 hours ago, Bonvivant said:

I understand that the PGA tour (or whichever tour) is a product to generate revenue, but they get to play by a different set of rules than the rest of us when it comes to lost balls.

I get what you're saying, but they don't play by different rules. It's one of the things that makes golf as great as it is.

40 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

What about an unmanned mower for greens?

There are several of these things already.

[ChetlovesMer]

49 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

Once upon a time, I worked for an electric motor company. We pitched the idea to Toro and others to replace hydraulics with electric motors to prevent damage to courses from leaks. Maybe they implemented this and went with a cheaper (Chinese) source that stole all of our motor designs, but that would be a good thing. Personally I would like to see more cost effective course maintenance equipment. I am seeing automatic mowers and pooper scoopers coming on the market that are similar to Roomba's. What about an unmanned mower for greens?

Hey Carl, we must of covered some of the same ground over the years. I too called on Toro back when they were developing their electric greens mowers. I can tell you with absolute certainty they now have Roomba style electric greens mowers. In addition, MTD up there in Willard, is developing/has developed very similar product as well. 

Can I ask which electric motor company you worked for?

5 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Is that unmanned mower going to pull the pin on the Green? Oh, that's right, it can't touch the flagstick.

That's a really good question. How the unmanned mowers actually work is a guy walks out there with them and pulls the pin in order to move the hole location. But, he doesn't actually have to. The unmanned mower with "bump" into the pin, realize its there and correct its path. Usually, however, there's still a person there though. He/she is checking the greens for damage, moving the pin location, inspecting the conditions that kind of thing. That's kind of why both MTD and Toro believe the "bigger" market is unmanned mowers for home owners. 

Again, there are some issues with unmanned mowers for home owners as well. The liability thing comes to mind for starters. In addition, the unmanned mower is fine for generally lawn mowing, but also if you are one of those guys like my neighbor who's lawn and yard look like a page from a magazine, the unmanned mower isn't going to get you there. … yet....

[CarlSpackler]

24 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Hey Carl, we must of covered some of the same ground over the years. I too called on Toro back when they were developing their electric greens mowers. I can tell you with absolute certainty they now have Roomba style electric greens mowers. In addition, MTD up there in Willard, is developing/has developed very similar product as well. 

Can I ask which electric motor company you worked for?

That's a really good question. How the unmanned mowers actually work is a guy walks out there with them and pulls the pin in order to move the hole location. But, he doesn't actually have to. The unmanned mower with "bump" into the pin, realize its there and correct its path. Usually, however, there's still a person there though. He/she is checking the greens for damage, moving the pin location, inspecting the conditions that kind of thing. That's kind of why both MTD and Toro believe the "bigger" market is unmanned mowers for home owners. 

Again, there are some issues with unmanned mowers for home owners as well. The liability thing comes to mind for starters. In addition, the unmanned mower is fine for generally lawn mowing, but also if you are one of those guys like my neighbor who's lawn and yard look like a page from a magazine, the unmanned mower isn't going to get you there. … yet....

I worked for Globe Motors from 2000-2016.

33 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Is that unmanned mower going to pull the pin on the Green? Oh, that's right, it can't touch the flagstick.

I would think that with other things, it would change direction if it ran into something. It would be nice if it would work on it's own at night when the course is empty.

[ChetlovesMer]

1 minute ago, CarlSpackler said:

I worked for Globe Motors from 2000-2016.

I was with Sauer-Danfoss from 1999 - 2010. I remember well Toro developing the electric greens mower. The idea was that if you paid for a million dollar home on a golf course you didn't want to be awoken at 6AM by the greens mower. To say nothing of the hydraulic fluid that could leak out and ruin a green. 

[CarlSpackler]

3 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I was with Sauer-Danfoss from 1999 - 2010. I remember well Toro developing the electric greens mower. The idea was that if you paid for a million dollar home on a golf course you didn't want to be awoken at 6AM by the greens mower. To say nothing of the hydraulic fluid that could leak out and ruin a green. 

Exactly what we were shooting for. Hydraulic fluid and grass are not friends.

[dennyjones]

Somebody needs to develop a ball washer that is hands free.   Drop the ball in the washer, an electric motor (for @CarlSpackler and @ChetlovesMer) rotates the ball in a 60% solution of alcohol. The ball comes out like a gumball machine.   You'd never have to touch the ball washer.   The problem being that the 60% solution would become diluted relatively quickly.   

[Double Mocha Man]

2 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

Somebody needs to develop a ball washer that is hands free.   Drop the ball in the washer, an electric motor (for @CarlSpackler and @ChetlovesMer) rotates the ball in a 60% solution of alcohol. The ball comes out like a gumball machine.   You'd never have to touch the ball washer.   The problem being that the 60% solution would become diluted relatively quickly.   

Solar powered?  Maybe it can dispense a little note with the ball saying,  "This Titleist should have been taken out of play 9 holes ago."

Edited March 24, 2020 by Double Mocha Man